Intraspecific chloroplast DNA variation and population structure in Eucalyptus grandis Hill Ex Maiden

Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden is an important forestry species in Australia. It is one of the most popular species used in hardwood plantations in New South Wales. Knowledge of population structure and other genetic processes such as gene flow will be useful for management of breeding material and plantation establishment. This study aims to assess the population structure of E. grandis over its natural distribution, using chloroplast markers. The eucalypt chloroplast genome is typical of most angiosperms and contains a large and small single copy region separated by inverted repeats (IR). The junctions between the inverted repeats and the large single copy region are defined as JLA and JLB. Sequence variation in these regions will be used to analyse the population structure of E. grandis. Individuals from 210 locations encompassing the natural distribution of E. grandis ranging from North Queensland to the mid north coast of New South Wales have been sampled. DNA sequence variation in the JLA and JLB regions of the chloroplast genome will be detected by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), and confirmed by DNA sequencing of haplotypes.